Photo: Frank Khamees/Sportsgraphy
Calder United coach Mark Torcaso has admitted his side weren’t at their best as they claimed the inaugural NPLW Premiership with a 2-1 win over Galaxy United.
Regardless, it caps off a brilliant season for the Minor Premiers, who claim a double in the first ever season of the revamped women competition.
It was even more special for Torcaso and co. with both himself and many of the players he’s worked with in the past having ever taken out the top prize, despite coming close on several occasions.
“There are a lot of players that have been close [without winning] so to share it with them was pretty important,” Torcaso said.
“Most importantly for them to have that chance and to do that for themselves was more important for me. I’m just glad they had that chance.”
A goal in first-half of extra time sealed the tie after a tense opening 90 minutes that saw Calder survive a number of nervy moments, including going into the half-time break a goal down, courtesy of a Caitlin Pickett header.
“I didn’t think necessarily we played that well, especially in the first half. There was just a few too many gaps created that we didn’t deal with quite well and the girls found it hard to adjust to that,” Torcaso said.
“At half-time, we had identified that were were finding it hard to score a goal in general play, and we weren’t probably going to get one initially from open play because of the way Geelong were set up. A couple of those situations where we identified that we could pinch a goal from, one of those was from a set-piece.
“In the first two games we played them, we’ve scored two goals from set pieces and we identified that we needed to take advantage of free-kicks and also identified that Kelsey [Quinn] was just her second game back from injury.”
Torcaso – himself a keeper in his formative years in the English lower leagues and Belgium – was wary of the mental impact that injuries and time away from the park can have on a keeper’s decision making.
As it so panned out, it was a Tyla-Jay Vlajnic set piece which helped create Calder’s equaliser, with Quinn overcommitting to a dangerous aerial ball, and unfortunate not to claim, allowing Kasha Meyer in to slot home from close range.
“We said to ourselves that at every set-piece, we’d put [Quinn] in a position where she would have to make a decision. If we put the ball on top of her head, she was going to be uncomfortable.
It just happens that it worked out like that, and she overran it. I know as a keeper how uncomfortable you can be coming back from an injury and how less confident you can be going to get the ball.
“We addressed a few things at half time and it was fantastic that the girls actually came out and were able to fix that, because I didn’t think we played well initially. To be able to come off the pitch knowing they didn’t leave much behind was really pleasing.”
The eventual winner came as a result of a brilliant flowing move in extra time, with Torcaso stressing the importance of saving fresh legs for the run home, which proved fruitful as substitute Brydie Siryj burst forward to tee up Enza Barilla to win the tie.
“We strategised and did a few things [including Siryj’s introduction] around the 80-85 minute mark because we saw that the game was becoming quite dull and we thought this game might be going into extra time,” the head coach said.
“We held back on two of our substitutions because we needed the players fresh for 30 minutes. We did that well with Aliesha Newman having an impact when coming on, Brydie and Holly Boldiston.
“Brydie came on with 10 minutes of normal time and did really well. The second goal was down to her persistence and hard work and then Enza’s experience and clinical finishing in the end. We thought we’d expose her on a big stage, in a big game and take that risk with her, and she was fantastic.”
“The same goes with all the other substitutes, they all had their little important situations that helped us win that Grand Final.”
It wasn’t all smooth sailing though, as a nerve-wracking final five minutes saw Galaxy throw the kitchen sink at Calder, who were forced to scramble with numbers to hold onto their narrow lead.
“My heart was in my mouth, don’t get me wrong. It was very nervy but with five minutes left, positional situation gets thrown out the door because Galaxy are pushing up and putting a lot of pressure on you from an attacking point of view.
“You’ve got to make sure people are filling in gaps everywhere and I think we covered that well enough. Besides the shot that hit the crossbar and the header from Sky Jensen, everything else was pretty comfortable because Beth was pretty much taking everything and was comfortable.”
When the dust had settled, the coach led the way in post-game celebrations – which including a feed put on by Hume City and more than a few drinks back at the club – but not before acknowledging the brilliant work of assistant Ian Williamson, whose impact on the playing group has
“The support that Ian has shown has been unbelievable to me, but most importantly the support he shows the players and the club. This journey has to be put down to a strong partnership and relationship.
“He’s a mentor to me, someone to trust, and believe in. He has helped this group get to this point his delivery and belief in the playing group”